Jones Opposed for Higher Post in E.D.

Washington--The post of undersecretary of the Education Department,
which the Reagan Administration is expected to fill soon, has become
the focus of a political power struggle between some of the
department's conservative appointees and Gary L. Jones, the man
Administration sources say is scheduled to be appointed to the
post.

Mr. Jones, who currently serves as deputy undersecretary for
planning, budget, and evaluation, has been expected by knowledgeable
observers to be named second-in-command of the department ever since
the previous undersecretary, William C. Clohan Jr., was forced to
resign last month.

Lacking Committment

The resignation of Mr. Clohan, a moderate Republican, had reportedly
been sought by political conservatives--both within and outside of the
Administration--who believed he was not committed ideologically to the
policies of President Reagan. Since Mr. Clohan's departure, some
conservatives have attempted to block the appointment of Mr. Jones on
the same grounds.

Opposition to Mr. Jones's appointment was voiced in editorials this
month in two publications that customarily take politically
conservative positions on public-policy issues. Human Events, a weekly
newspaper, and The National Review, a monthly magazine, published
articles that questioned the views of Mr. Jones on the issue of tuition
tax credits--a program strongly supported by President Reagan.

The National Review said that Mr. Jones, a former school-board
member in the Washington suburb of Fairfax County, Va., "was once heard
in public" to oppose tuition tax credits.

Human Events went further, quoting an unnamed source who attended a
meeting of the National Federation of Urban and Suburban School
Districts in February 1981. At that meeting, "Jones had argued very
strongly against tuition tax credits," the newspaper quoted the source
as saying.

"Sources in and out of the depart-ment who know Jones also report
that, at least in the past, Jones has been critical of tuition tax
credits because he believes they would weaken the public-school
system," the article continued.

Although the newspaper did not mention names, other Administration
officials identified the principal source of the allegations as
Lawrence Uzzell, a conservative political activist who is currently a
special assistant at the National Institute of Education (nie).

Mr. Uzzell, who, as an aide to Republican Senator John P. East of
North Carolina, was one of the speakers at the meeting last year, was
said by Administration sources to have voiced his preference for a
"more conservative" undersecretary than Mr. Jones.

Alternate Appointments

The sources said Mr. Uzzell was lobbying Administration officials to
appoint Edward A. Curran, the director of the nie, or Daniel Oliver,
the department's general counsel, to the post.

Mr. Curran is a former headmaster of the National Cathedral School,
a private college-preparatory school here. Mr. Oliver is a former
executive editor of The National Review.

None of these officials was available for comment last week.

Although Mr. Jones has also declined to comment, Human Events said
he claims "that he has never, at any time in the past, been opposed to
tuition tax credits and has no idea how such allegations could have
been made against him."

The allegations against Mr. Jones were also denied by Linton Deck,
the superintendent of the Fairfax County public schools, who attended
the meeting last year. Mr. Deck, in a letter to Human Events, said that
he had "never heard [Mr. Jones] speak against tuition tax credits."

Lobbyists in the education community here said they viewed the power
struggle with irony because Mr. Jones has been the Administration's
principal spokesman--in a White House press briefing, in television
appearances, and in the Congress--for the President's recently
announced tuition tax-credit proposal.

One Education Department source claimed that, in fact, Mr. Jones was
the department's representative on a White House task force that
designed the proposal, and that Mr. Jones is currently drafting the
bill that the Administration is planning to submit to the Congress in
the next few weeks.

Principal Defender

Other sources note that the deputy undersecretary has been the
Administration's principal defender of its efforts to reduce funds for
loans for college students.

"If he's not conservative enough, I'm scared," said Allan S. Cohen,
a lobbyist for the state of Illinois.

Another lobbyist, August W. Steinhilber of the National School
Boards Association, said he thought the Administration might welcome
conservative opposition to Mr. Jones, as a way of diluting opposition
to his appointment from liberals in the education community.

Other observers pronounced the matter a personal feud among
conservatives, which they claimed has produced a "more conservative
than thou'' attitude.

The National Review editorial objected to Mr. Jones because he "is
not a movement conservative. ... He is not likely to get out of bed in
the morning thinking, 'How can I reduce the size of government
today?'"

Secretary Criticized

The Human Events article also criticized Mr. Jones's secretary,
identifying her as a "Carterite political appointee."

Administration sources, however, said the personnel records of the
secretary indicate that she has worked in the past for the Republican
National Committee, the Nixon White House, the conservative American
Security Council, and the Young Americans for Freedom youth group.

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